I posted this on my other blog, Publius, and thought that it is relevent to this blog.
I came across this article written by Hal Moore, former Lt. General in the US Army and author of the memoir We Were Soldiers Once…And Young. Moore tells how the mutual experiences of war can make men who were once enemies embrace each other as friends after the guns have fallen silent. Moore wrote:
“When the blood of any war soaks your clothes and covers your hands, and soldiers die in your arms, every breath forever more becomes an appeal for a greater peace, unity and reconciliation. ”
“It was Vietnam. I was their commander and accountable for them. We charged the enemy with bayonets fixed to our rifles in face-to-face combat. I still hear the ugly sounds of war. I still see the boots of my dead sticking out from under their ponchos, laces tied one last time by their precious fingers. … I still carry the wounded to the helicopters as they bled, screamed and begged to live one more day … and I still hold those who die in my arms, with their questioning eyes dreading death, as they called for their mothers … their eyes go blank and my war-crusted fingers close their eyelids. The blood of my dead soldiers will not wash from my hands. The stains remain.”
Student of the Civil War 